San Diego Chiropractic Blog

Sit Up, Stand Tall!!! We have all heard these commands from a parent, grandparent, teacher or our doctors.

I remember hearing this command when I was a kid and I always thought of it as adult badgering. That being said, there are good reasons to work on your posture. I find that poor posture contributes to the health issues of approximately half of the patients of my San Diego Chiropractic Center. The following list gives five reasons for you to work on improving your posture.

1) It doesn’t look good. Poor posture is unattractive making us appear to be tired, dis-interested and lacking in confidence.

2) It wears you down. Poor posture is due to muscular imbalance and weakness. For example, when our heads are jutted forward the muscles in our necks and upper backs have to work much harder. This extra work creates a stretch weakness that results in fatigue, muscle tension headaches, neck pain, back pain, etc.

3) It leads to pain. The pain from poor posture can be significant and even result in disability. Overworked, weakened muscles cause a build up of lactic acid resulting in muscular pain. Chronic postural stress can also cause joint pain and pinched nerves.

4) It makes you injury prone. Chronic postural stress causes sprain/strain injuries that can make ordinary house chores much more likely to result in injuries.

Over my nearly 20 years of practice I have seen patients cancel chiropractic appointments in favor of manicures, tanning sessions and for after-work drinks with their co-workers. Despite the fact that poor posture can have series health consequences, I understand that these consequences may not be what motivates people to correct their posture. If not for the negative health effects, work on your posture for vanity. Good posture will make you feel better and look better!

Jones Pain Relief Clinic
10415 San Diego Mission Rd
San Diego, CA 92108
Ph: (619) 280-0554

Here’s To Your Health

Call (619) 280-0554 for an appointment

San Diego Chiropractic

Dr. Jones Your Mission Valley Doctor for :

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• Treating Whiplash Mission Valley SD
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Have you ever had chiropractic care for injuries from an auto accident?

At my San Diego based Chiropractic Clinic I provide treatment for many patients with neck pain, back pain and headaches. In many cases, the cause of these aches and pains are related to auto accidents or other types of personal injury.

More often than not, the accident in question occurred years earlier and the initial symptoms were not taken seriously by the patient. Most people don’t take the time to seek treatment for themselves yet they scramble to get their cars fixed. This thought process extends into other injury / treatment scenarios as well. I once had an acquaintance who smoked but proudly proclaimed that she didn’t smoke inside her car because she didn’t want to ruin the interior!

I don’t know why so many of us carry these kinds of thought processes. In the case of auto accident injuries, the little bit of neck pain or the slight headache or the lower back pain is often overlooked or dismissed and minimized as being un-important. This is flawed thinking. Imagine if we treated other health conditions with such disregard.

The injury mechanisms in whiplash type accidents are complex. Muscles are stretched and torn, ligaments can sometimes partially tear or rupture, intervertebral discs can become herniated and spinal fractures can occur. These injuries can lead to a vast number of symptoms that can cause anything from slight irritation all the way to severe disability.

While the mechanism of injury in whiplash cases is complex, the typical resulting spinal injuries follow a well established path. Initially, the muscles and ligaments in the injured area are irritated. This irritation leads to inflammation. Inflammation is not only responsible for many of the initial symptoms that you experience but it is also responsible for scar tissue formation which can make your symptoms permanent or chronic.

Statistically, 25% of all auto accident / injury victims will suffer from some ongoing symptom related to their accident. Chiropractors are experts in dealing with the types of injuries that occur as a result of auto accidents. The best way to insure that you are not a member of this group of 25% is to get an examination and possibly treatment, if recommended by your chiropractor.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego Blog

Here’s To Your Health

Call (619) 280-0554 for an appointment
San Diego Chiropractic
Dr. Jones Your Mission Valley Doctor for :

• Whiplash Doctor
• Treating Whiplash Mission Valley SD
• Whiplash Treatment San Diego
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Types of Headaches

Headaches is one of the major afflictions for which new patients visit my chiropractic office in San Diego. This condition may seem like a minor health issue to those of us who do not suffer from chronic or severe headaches. But they can have a major role as to how the patient and the population are generally affected. Over ten million visits to the doctor in the United States were caused by headaches in 2007 alone, while being a popular excuse for calling out of work and school.

Medications from the doctor offer relief for a little while, but don’t do anything to help the origin. Chiropractic care, on the other hand, works directly at righting the root causes that trigger a multitude of headaches. This piece will delineate the five basic kinds of headaches — tension, toxic, sinus, cluster and migraine — so you may have a better understanding of which kind of headache you might be experiencing.

Tension Headaches

The most common type of headache, by far, is tension headaches. Roughly 4 out of 5 people are subject to tension headaches from time to time, while five percent are subject to tension headaches every day. Tension headaches affect women twice as much as men.

The duration of anywhere from 30 minutes to several days is average for tension headaches. Band-like pain, pressure, or throbbing of the head are the most common symptoms related to this type of headache.

There can be a significant increase in severity with the frequency of the headaches. Emotional stress, depression, not enough rest, poor posture, and/or chiropractic subluxation causing pressure on the nerves are some of the multiple causes for tension headaches. More frequently than otherwise, this kind of headache normally happens due to a mixture of the above mentioned causes.

Toxic Headaches

This is a rare occurrence of a headache in the medical community. Despite this fact, it is often straightforward to identify this category of headache, when occurring as a result to toxin exposure.

Sinus Headaches

Sinus headaches are not unusual, and the pain is localized to sinus cavities around the forehead, eyes, nose, and cheeks. Rather than relieving sinus headaches long term, many medications used for this purpose ironically may exacerbate and prolong sinus conditions.

Cluster Headaches

Cluster headaches are one of the most intense sort of headaches and are normally one-sided. Luckily, though, they are quite unusual and less than 0.1% of people suffer from them. They generally begin prior to age 30 and happen in time periods ranging from 14 days to three months.

These headaches usually occur one to three times per day, lasting for 30-90 minutes. The patient usually awakens from them one to two hours after retiring.

When the cluster period is over, these headaches may disappear for months or years, but the headaches reappear later on. These attacks are considered to be tied to circadian rhythms in the pineal gland and hypothalamus, which controls the resting and awake cycles. This type of headache often occur with spring or fall changes in season.

Migraine Headaches

Migraine headaches, vascular in nature, are caused by variations in the arteries inside and outside the brain. Approximately 28 million Americans suffer with migraines, however approximately 13 million Americans don’t have a diagnosis now. Migraines affect more women than men. Of the ones who have been diagnosed, 25 percent experience at least four episodes per month; 35 percent endure 1-4 attacks per month, and the final 40 percent go through one attack per month or less. Migraines can commonly last from four hours to three days.

There is a family history of migraines in four out of five sufferers from migraines. Children who have one parent who gets migraines have a 50 percent chance of getting them, and if both parents get them, they have a 75 percent chance.

Understanding migraine headache triggers may help avoid future headaches; common trigger factors include weather changes, caffeine, chemical exposure, fatigue or insomnia, and missed meals. Signs may include an aura in the form of light, noise or odor sensitivity; nausea or vomiting; and stomach distress or pain. Additional symptoms of paleness, dizziness, a mild fever, or an upset stomach may manifest in a child with a migraine.

Written by the best San Diego Chiropractor

Here’s To Your Health

Call (619) 280-0554 for an appointment

San Diego Chiropractic

Dr. Jones Your Mission Valley Doctor for :

• Whiplash Doctor
• Treating Whiplash Mission Valley SD
• Whiplash Treatment San Diego
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• Sport Injury Pain Relief

Do you know what and what not to do after an auto accident?

It is that time of the year again. You know, when the roads are wet with rain and half the people on the road drive like it is dry (FAST) and the other half slow down to half the posted limit. People who live in San Diego only see an average of 11 rainy days per year. That is about 3 percent of the time. Until your car loses traction and you hit another vehicle, most don’t realize how quickly and easily it can happen. While an accident usually starts and ends in matter of seconds, the neck pain, headaches, back pain, etc. can continue for weeks, months or sometimes, years.

In addition to the typical physical aches and pains associated with auto accident injuries, there are legalities to consider as well. Sometimes there are disputes as to who is the guilty party that is responsible for the accident. Many people will deny their responsibility even though their role in the accident is obvious. If you have been involved in an automobile accident, there are a number of things you can do to preserve your legal rights.

The following is a summary of some of the most important things you can do to protect your legal rights after an automobile accident:
1. Do not leave the scene. If you leave the scene of an auto accident, you may be criminally prosecuted. You are required to provide your name, address, driver’s license and auto insurance information to the other driver.
2. Assess yourself for injuries and then, if you are able, help the injured if there are any. If someone has been injured in the accident, you should call for an ambulance / paramedics and assist them to the extent you are qualified. Before calling for the ambulance, be prepared to give an accurate location of the accident and a count of the number of individuals injured.
3. Avoid additional collisions. Make sure your vehicle is not presenting a safety hazard to other motorists. If possible, it should be moved so that it is not obstructing traffic. You can further warn oncoming traffic to proceed with caution by setting flares, turning on your hazard lights, and raising the hood and trunk of your vehicle.
4. Notify the police. Typically the police will prepare a report that contains specific information regarding the accident and the parties involved. While you may not be required to call the police, the accident reports they produce could be helpful to you later.
5. Do not admit liability. You should not admit responsibility for the accident to the other drivers, passengers, or to the police for that matter. You may convey facts concerning how the incident occurred; however, it is best not to comment on your responsibility (or liability) for the accident. This is a legal matter that is not always readily and easily ascertainable.
6. You should get the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any individuals involved in the accident, as well as any witnesses to the accident. You should also obtain the name of the insurance company and policy number of the other drivers involved. If possible, you may take photographs to document the accident scene including skid marks, road obstructions, and damage to the vehicles.
7. Notify your insurance company. If you do not give your insurance company prompt notice, your policy may provide that the insurance company may deny coverage for your claim. Accordingly, you should give your insurance company notice by way of telephone and by written notice that provides you a means of proving such notice was given, such as by facsimile or by certified mail. You should provide your insurance company with all information they request concerning the facts of the accident.
8. Consult a chiropractic doctor to evaluate your neck and back for injuries. Some injuries may not manifest themselves until some period of time after the accident; the fact that you do not immediately feel as though you have been injured does not necessarily mean that no injury has occurred. You should consult your insurance agent to see if the cost of seeing a doctor in connection with the accident is covered by your insurance policy. You should not settle your claims for injuries arising from the accident until you have been advised by your chiropractic doctor as to the full extent of your injuries.

I hope that you find this information helpful. Drive safe!

Yours In Good Health

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Dr. Jones

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Chiropractic care is more than just adjusting the spine.  The philosophy of chiropractic includes care of the entire body - a large portion of this care includes nutrition.   Chiropractors use a holistic approach, meaning that when you have neck pain, we not only treat your neck but we also look for the cause of your neck pain.  Sometimes that neck pain is due to a simple misalignment of a vertebra, somtimes it occurs secondary to postural stress and sometimes there are nutrition causes.  If we don’t examin all of the potential causes of your neck pain, back pain or headaches, then treatment may be quite ineffective.

Regarding nutrition, my understanding of the nearly immediate impact of a healthy diet on my own body was recently re-booted.  I have been on a strict diet of non-processed whole foods and a supplement regimen from Standard Process for the last 21 days.

At the onset of this program I imagined that when it was finished that I would no-doubt eat an occasional piece of pizza or a burrito or have a Sunday morning cup of coffee to satisfy my cravings. Well, my thoughts have changed and my cravings are gone!

This has become the jumpstart for the lifestyle change that I have desired and pursued for many years. The following is a list of some of the more noticeable changes that this program has made for me.

1) Noticeable reduction in anxiety

2) Significant decrease in blood pressure

3) Sleep is much improved

4) Complete loss of my cravings for coffee, sugar and fattening foods

5) Increased energy levels through my day

6) No more bloating or indigestion after meals

7) My pants don’t fit anymore - I lost 15 pounds.

 Much more stable blood sugar levels - no more crashing!

9) Significant decrease in knee pain, ankle pain and neck pain.

As a chiropractor, I have always encouraged my family, friends and patients to maintain their spinal health through regular chiropractic care and to pursue a healthy lifestyle. I am embarrassed to say that even though I maintained a diet that would be considered much healthier than the average persons prior to the start of this Detox - Purification - Weight Loss Program, I really wasn’t healthy.

I would encourage all of you to examine your lifestyles, especially those of you over 30. If you are eating fast food, drinking coffee and / or soda and eating processed foods out of cans / boxes you need to consider a lifestyle change. No one wants to be fat and ill when we get older. But that is exactly what the typical diet supports!

I can’t imagine reverting back to my old eating habits after completing this program. The taste of my favorite Mexican food, that occasional cold soda on a hot day or that warm morning cup of coffee doesn’t even begin to compare to how my new eating habits have made me feel. That old diet was easy and fast - and totally not worth the ill health that came with it.

The combination of eliminating the intake of unhealthy foods with the powerful Detox / Purification provided by the Standard Process Supplements and the undeniable benefit of consuming fresh fruits, vegetables and lean animal proteins like fish and chicken have made both Linda and I feel like completely new people.

Those of you who would like to go through the Standard Process Purification program should call the office or just come in and talk to us about what you need to get started.

The cost for the supplements that you will need for the entire 21 day program is reasonable - the benefits of completing the program are Priceless!

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego

Call (619) 280-0554 for an appointment

San Diego Chiropractic

Dr. Jones Your Mission Valley Doctor for :

• Whiplash Doctor
• Treating Whiplash Mission Valley SD
• Whiplash Treatment San Diego
• Whiplash Personal Injury Claims
• Work Related Injury
• Sport Injury Pain Relief

In my chiropractic office in San Diego, I treat people that are more oriented toward taking proactive steps in maintaining their health. In addition to helping my patients with the typical neck pain, back pain and headaches that are common complaints for chiropractors, I also give advice regarding other lifestyle changes that help them become healthier people.

Food cravings are the downfall for many of us regarding our health. I can’t recall what the disorders or deficiencies were, but I remember studying conditions that made some people crave dirt - that is right, people crave to eat dirt, and other deficiencies that made people crave aspirin. Obviously, none of us would think that a nice plate of dirt for dinner would sound good without some underlying nutritional deficiency that would drive us to such a craving.

It is interesting how mineral deficiencies can result in cravings of more typical types of foods. Naturopath Colleen Huber says that all food cravings are a signal that our bodies are telling us that we need more of certain types of foods. For example; when we crave sweets our bodies really need chromium, carbon, phosphorus, sulfur or tryptophan. A craving for chocolate can be an indicator that you are deficient in magnesium while a craving for salty foods is an indication that we are chloride deficient. If you crave soda or other carbonated drinks what you really need is calcium.

This is incredibly valuable information. Once again, as a chiropractor I am not only concerned with relieving my patients back pain or neck pain but I am concerned about their health as a whole. Poor diets are fueled by cravings that we often don’t understand and poor diet planning. A poor diet can cause low energy, weight gain, low self image and a feeling of being out of control among a host of other much more serious disorders.

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego

For the most part, San Diego is a city of fairly fit and active people. Since I am a chiropractor in San Diego, I can’t help but notice that a fairly large portion of my patients are trying to lose weight.

Losing weight is not only a noble endeavor but a difficult one.

Losing weight is not only good for your cardiovascular health but also for your health in general. Losing extra weight is very important to your skeletal health as well. Every extra pound that you carry puts a little more stress through your spinal joints causing excessive wear and tear.

Excessive wear and tear results in arthritis, neck pain, back pain, headaches, sciatic pain, hip pain, knee pain etc. I am of the opinion that less pain is better.

Chiropractic care is an important part of your efforts to maintain your spinal health. That being said, you should not dismiss the importance of keeping fit as it directly relates to your spines’ ability to withstand the stresses of a long life.

Since I am sure that at least some of my patients’ problems are due to the fact that they carry excess weight, I thought I would give a few suggestions for successful weight loss.

1) Remember that weight control is your responsibility. Having a weight loss partner who agrees to “watch out for you” will only inspire you to cheat while they are not watching.

2) Don’t let a single failure in your diet degrade into a whole day of poor diet choices. If you blow a part of your diet, don’t view your entire day of eating as a failure and consume junk all day. Pick up your good diet choices the next time you have a meal.

3) Don’t start dieting prior to holidays or vacations where you will be tempted by overindulging making it difficult to lose weight.

4) Don’t weigh your self more than a few times each month. Losing weight takes time which isn’t compatible with Americans desire for instant results.

5) Cut back on salts, caffeinated drinks and soda. Even diet soda!

6) Drink plenty of water and try eating soup before meals to help reduce the number of calories you consume.

These are just a few simple ways to start trimming those extra pounds.

Both you and your spine will be better for it.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
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Over the years, my San Diego Chiropractic Center has provided treatment for hundreds of people suffering from back pain, neck pain and leg pain that is easily attributed to their running habits.

I have read countless times in various journal articles that running becomes detrimental if your distance is greater than 15 miles per week or further than 3 miles per run. The conclusions that these articles drew to is that running beyond the guidelines previously mentioned does the joints more harm than the aerobic benefit of the exercise does your body good. It seems that these studies indict long distance running as an exercise of diminishing returns.

That being said, for those of you who do run, there is good news concerning the health benefits of running. Researchers reported in the July 2001 issue of American Journal of Public Health that men in their 30s who jog a minimum of ten times monthly develop a bone density that is at least 5 percent higher than that of men who jog less frequently.

The study analyzed answers to questions in a health survey of over 4,000 men, including 954 joggers and 3,300 who did not jog at all. The study included results of hip joint X-rays taken of each man to determine bone density. The researchers then compared the findings from joggers with results from non-joggers.

Dr. Michael E. Mussolino, a researcher at the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention office said the results showed that, “The men who were jogging nine times a month were doing much better than those who were jogging only one to eight times a month. Even those who jogged eight or fewer times a month had a higher bone density than those who did not jog at all.” He also noted that the study showed that it does not require marathon-like running to build strong bones.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that 10 million Americans have osteoporosis and another 18 million are at risk of the disease. Eighty percent of these people are women. The NIH estimates that one out of every two women and one in eight men will break a bone as the result of osteoporosis within their lifetime. The report states that building dense strong bones in young adulthood is considered by experts to be an important factor in preventing osteoporosis.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego Blog
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Lower back pain is one of the most frustrating things for patients to deal with. I have had what I consider bad lower back pain, bad neck pain and other injuries that get my full attention. Of all of these conditions, I think that lower back pain has been the worst spine complaint that I have had. Since I became a chiropractor in San Diego, I have taken informal surveys of my patients regarding the area of their backs that create the greatest level of disability when aggravated and more often than not the answer is lower back pain.

Chiropractic care for lower back pain is pretty straight forward. Usually low back pain is accompanied by muscle spasms which have to be addressed first. Most low back pain patients do very well with treatment that begins with the application of hot packs and electrical muscle stimulation. Electrical muscle stimulation sounds intimidating to some people but it is a very comfortable, relaxing form of therapy that is excellent at soothing muscle spasms.

Once the muscles have been relaxed as much as possible, the affected joints of the lower back can be adjusted. Much like the sound of electrical muscle stimulation, some people find the sound of having their joints manipulated intimidating. In fact, the overwhelming majority of even first time chiropractic patients find the joint manipulations to be comfortable and soothing to their back pain.

Chiropractic care is delivered as a series of treatments rather than a single session. That is not to say that you may not attain 100% relief with one session, but you shouldn’t count on it. The rule of thumb in regards to how much care you may need for a low back issue is that you must allow for one week of active care (2 to 3 visits per week) for each month that you have had a particular problem. This level of frequency and consistency will ensure the greatest level of recovery with chiropractic care.

Yours In Good Health

Dr. Jones

San Diego Chiropractic Care
Chiropractor San Diego Blog
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Back Pain Relief & Treatment
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“Hey Doc, is it OK if I crack my own neck?”

In my San Diego chiropractic clinic, I treat many patients for neck pain, back pain and other joint pains. A few of these patients ask me if it is OK if they crack their necks and backs by themselves. A few of them will tell me that they have their kids or the wife walk on their back. And a few of them are in my office because either they cracked their back or neck by themselves or they had someone else do it for them which resulted in an injury.

The funny thing about some of these people who were injured by a non-chiropractic adjustment is that they are nervous about me adjusting them for their neck pain or back pain.

The truth about cracking your own neck or back is that it is not very safe. Usually people develop pain or stiffness in the spine because of an injury or some ongoing condition. Chiropractors are trained to specifically diagnose and provide treatment for these conditions or injuries.

Through the course of my fifteen year career, I have seen patients who have broken vertebra by adjusting their own necks and backs. I have seen broken ribs as a result of having someone walk on their backs, I have seen two patients who suffered mild strokes from cracking their own necks and I had one patient whose brother suffered paralysis from the chest down because his partner walked on his back resulting in a crushed vertebra and a seriously damaged spinal cord.

Some people crack their own joints daily for years without suffering obvious serious consequences. Even these people are doing themselves a disservice. In no normal situation should you feel as though you have to crack a specific joint every day. Those who do crack the same joints everyday for years will develop arthritis in those joints resulting in pain, dysfunction and possibly disability.

In most cases cracking or as we chiropractors call it “adjusting” a joint is fairly easy once the skills are acquired. However, the one of the most important things regarding the delivery of any type of health care is when not to deliver it. In every case that I have seen when a patient was injured by a non-chiropractic adjustment, the injured patient “thought” that they knew what was wrong.

Don’t make the same mistakes. If you need to get adjusted, go to the chiropractor!

Your’s In Good Health

Dr. Jones

www.JonesPainRelief.com